Daily watchers

[dtuomi]

Originally Posted by AUdubon5425

Talk about ironic - at the same time I found my XL-100 I also took home two Zenith sets identical to yours! One had a mediocre picture and no sound, the other had sound but no picture. They were pretty beat up. I put them on the curb, as I had no room to store them in my rental (9 mos. after Katrina). If I'd have been online back then I'd have mailed them to you - I remember they were fairly light.

It just makes my Zenith rarer.

I've never had any sort of problem with it. It was practically brand new when I got it a couple of years ago from Adam. Originally my bench television was a Portacolor (also from Adam). But my boss freaked out when he saw that it was a vacuum tube based television, so it had to go. I only had the Portacolor to act up once, and it was getting the same daily use. But the Zenith is small, very light, solid state (boss likes that), and it works for what I need it to do.

David

Picture of the Portacolor when it was my bench television:

[freakaftr8]

Wow! That Portacolor looks great! You still have that set hopefully right?

[dtuomi]

Oh yes, I still have it. After I moved it out of the office it came home. Currently its sitting next to my Tascam M312b mixing console not doing much. I keep looking for a place for it, but its so hard to find a place. I really need like many thousands of square feet worth of house to indulge properly in all my hobbies. 1200 sq ft just isn't cutting it.

David

[zenith2134]

Nice GE. Tell your boss that the Zenith could burst into flames too since it has a CRT which is definitely not solid state, lol.

Think about it: These GEs are plentiful, and most of the time work as found. They must've been using pretty decent heat insulators/cabinet materials because they do get mighty hot when in use. But, I don't recall hearing of any burning up. People worry too much.

[kx250rider]

Great to see a picture of Hal Fishman on a tube again... I think it's been about a year now since he passed away. I stopped watching the KTLA News At Ten when Hal was no longer the anchor . While Stan Chambers is still the best part of KTLA, Hal WAS News At Ten. No replacements possible.

Charles

[classictv80s]

Originally Posted by kx250rider

Great to see a picture of Hal Fishman on a tube again... I think it's been about a year now since he passed away. I stopped watching the KTLA News At Ten when Hal was no longer the anchor . While Stan Chambers is still the best part of KTLA, Hal WAS News At Ten. No replacements possible.

Charles

I agree that Hal Fishman was an outstanding news anchor, however, I found his commentaries in his later years to be annoying. There's just too much commentary and propaganda on the so-called "news" programs of today, which is why I no longer watch any of it.

As far as I'm concerned, the Los Angeles TV stations began going downhill in the late 1980s, soon after Rupert Murdoch bought KTTV. Even the Rose Parade, starting around that same time, became stale and boring - with fewer and fewer good quality floats and more and more bands. Your Youtube video of the Rose Parade being shown on your 1952 Kaye Halbert TV set is the only Rose Parade footage I've seen in years. By the way, are you going to do it again in 2009?

[Jeffhs]

My RCA CTC185 19" XL-100 gets the most use of the two TVs in my apartment. It's a very good set, bought it new eight years ago. Haven't had any major repairs done on it, although the RF antenna/cable port snapped off the tuner PC board shortly after I bought the set. Unfortunately, the warranty didn't cover the repair. Had the same problem (!) a year later, again had the local TV repair shop look at the set; same thing, the warranty didn't cover it.
However, after that the set worked well, and has been working very well since. It even survived a fall off its stand about two or three weeks ago while I was installing a new DVD player--the TV fell face down on the carpeted floor in my apartment, but, thankfully, it wasn't damaged. Had a slight problem with color splotches on the picture immediately after the mishap, but a minute or so of work with a magnet from an old loudspeaker cleared up the problem. Picture is now as good as when the set was new.

My other TV is a Zenith Sentry 2, SMS1917SG 19" table model. It is 13 years old, but it has few hours of use as I only used it four years at my former residence, and I only used it about two weeks after moving to my present apartment when the RCA was in the shop for repairs. (It has been in my bedroom ever since, now used only to cross-check when I have problems with my cable service.) However, the Zenith is in line to replace the CTC185 when the latter finally goes belly up. I'm not expecting that for quite some time, though, as the CTC185 just keeps going and going, like the Energizer battery or Timex watches (it takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'). Amazing, when one considers that the set fell flat on the screen; this would and has ruined many modern TVs. I've heard and read here in AK of sets that were damaged irreparably when they fell off or were pushed off their stands or makeshift stands by mischievious cats, etc. Today's Magnavox, etc. CRT TVs (what few, and I do mean few, if any, of them are even available these days) aren't nearly as rugged as either of my sets or any TV made before about 2000 or so. I understand the last Magnavox CRT sets were so light it was possible to push them off the table or stand they are on simply by pushing the buttons on the control panel below the CRT. The recommendation was to use the remote to control these sets. I sometimes wonder how many Magnavox (and other) small CRT TVs wound up in repair shops for warranty repairs involving smashed CRTs or circuit panels, when the sets were accidentally or otherwise pushed off or fell off their stands.

[freakaftr8]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

My RCA CTC185 19" XL-100 gets the most use of the two TVs in my apartment. It's a very good set, bought it new eight years ago. Haven't had any major repairs done on it, although the RF antenna/cable port snapped off the tuner PC board shortly after I bought the set. Unfortunately, the warranty didn't cover the repair. Had the same problem (!) a year later, again had the local TV repair shop look at the set; same thing, the warranty didn't cover it.
:

I have seen a heck of alot of these newer RCA/GE sets with that same problem. My uncle had one about 10 yrs ago and he installed a sat dish and the coax connector hust snapped off the board when he screwed back in the coax cable! I also had seen 2 Sharp sets from the late 90's do the same.

[zenith2134]

One of my first TVs was a 13" Samsung from about '81 or so....one time when I was like 5, me and my mom were having an argument about something immature and the set fell to the floor (carpeted). Anyway, the coax snapped off since it was connected to an archaic Sharp vhs deck with wired remote. Bet the 'rents paid a nice sum to fix that in the early 90s.....

[N9ZQA]

This set is currently my daily watcher, replacing the '65 Admiral that I haven't had the time or the bench space to dig into. It's in the living room, plugged into an Insignia DTV box and DVD player, and gets a few hours of use a night.

It was a thrift store find before I began playing with tube sets, and was in the basement for a while before I drug it back upstairs and set it in its current spot. Didn't require much except some contact cleaner and a good scrubbing of the module contacts to chase out a few intermittents. Set up the convergence and the greyscale, and was rewarded with an excellent picture that rivals what I've seen on newer sets. The only problem is that the width is a bit much, with no apparent way to adjust it.

No other old sets currently in circulation; there used to be an Admiral B/W portable on the bedroom dresser, but that got voted down by the wife as having no remote and sleep timer. I wasn't crazy about the possibility of falling asleep and leaving it running either.

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by freakaftr8

I have seen a heck of alot of these newer RCA/GE sets with that same problem. My uncle had one about 10 yrs ago and he installed a sat dish and the coax connector hust snapped off the board when he screwed back in the coax cable! I also had seen 2 Sharp sets from the late 90's do the same.

It's not just the RCA's. It's all of them! On most newer sets, the coax connector is "made" onto the tuner. They are just crimped into place, and, not very good at that. They are very easy to rip off. Just the other day, I was given a 19" Duracrap (oops, I meant Durabrand) set that was found in the trash with a busted off RF connector. In some cases, I am able to reattach the connector to the tuner (I always solder, rather than crimp, the connector to the tuner housing). This was not the case here. The tuner was pretty much destroyed when the connector got yanked out. I just pulled a tuner from a junk board and that was that. My friend at the TV shop makes a good bit of $ by replacing busted off RF connectors.

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by zenith2134

Nice GE. Tell your boss that the Zenith could burst into flames too since it has a CRT which is definitely not solid state, lol.

My company had a field office in a state building, where I was stationed for a year. One afternoon, the facility manager looked at my Zenith K731 radio and asked if it ran on tubes. I said yes, and he told me those were prohibited because of a fire hazard, but not to say anything as no one else would even know what tubes were (he was in his 50's.) I thought it funny there were written policies about tube radios/TVs considering it has been forty years since you could buy one off the shelf.

[dtuomi]

Originally Posted by kx250rider

Great to see a picture of Hal Fishman on a tube again... I think it's been about a year now since he passed away. I stopped watching the KTLA News At Ten when Hal was no longer the anchor . While Stan Chambers is still the best part of KTLA, Hal WAS News At Ten. No replacements possible.

Its funny you mention that. That picture was made the night they broadcast their memorial to Hal. In fact the original reason the image was uploaded to Audiokarma was we had an earlier thread about him when he passed away, and I figured that people in the rest of the country who hadn't seen him before might like a picture of what he looked like. So that was basically the last time he was on the tube. And you're right its not the same without him. KTLA was my favorite news through the 80's and early 90's, but unfortunately he was from a different era, no way will it ever be the same.

Originally Posted by AUdubon5425

My company had a field office in a state building, where I was stationed for a year. One afternoon, the facility manager looked at my Zenith K731 radio and asked if it ran on tubes. I said yes, and he told me those were prohibited because of a fire hazard, but not to say anything as no one else would even know what tubes were (he was in his 50's.) I thought it funny there were written policies about tube radios/TVs considering it has been forty years since you could buy one off the shelf.

Yes, unfortunately I was hit with it. And yes, it does no good to let them that a CRT is a tube, no one cares, its just the rule.

David